Chimpmuck food

I remember a ways back people talking about chimpmunking food and I was like yeah, Abby does that. Nothing big. But she has taken it a little extreme. To where she doesn't want to swallow like anything. She'll keep food in her cheek for an hour or more sometimes before I actually realize how long it's been. It's gotten bad. She only ate like 2 bites of dinner because (I think) all the focus I've been spending telling her to chew and what not.

So, my question is what in the world do I do? I was setting a timer (sisters idea) and that worked, so maybe I need to do that all dinner long. But she hasn't wanted to eat dinner. Gets up then and says all done.

She's old enough, verbal enough, smart enough to totally understand everything I am saying. She's 2.5 yrs old (so think older than our 18 month olds but all ideas are worth sharing!!) So, what magic words can I say? I need ideas! I fear I am scaring her away from eating.

I remember a ways back people talking about chimpmunking food and I was like yeah, Abby does that. Nothing big. But she has taken it a little extreme. To where she doesn't want to swallow like anything. She'll keep food in her cheek for an hour or more sometimes before I actually realize how long it's been. It's gotten bad. She only ate like 2 bites of dinner because (I think) all the focus I've been spending telling her to chew and what not.

So, my question is what in the world do I do? I was setting a timer (sisters idea) and that worked, so maybe I need to do that all dinner long. But she hasn't wanted to eat dinner. Gets up then and says all done.

She's old enough, verbal enough, smart enough to totally understand everything I am saying. She's 2.5 yrs old (so think older than our 18 month olds but all ideas are worth sharing!!) So, what magic words can I say? I need ideas! I fear I am scaring her away from eating.

First off, I laughed out loud to think of her sitting with a bunch of food in her cheeks! My youngest step son did that, too! To be honest, we did not really "get" him to stop, he just kind of outgrew it after a few months. He would be sitting with food in his mouth from breakfast like at 11 am! We tried like watching him eat to make sure he chewed and swallowed, but then he was so stressed that we were watching him, he would not eat. We just finally kind of gave up and let him hang out with the food in his cheeks sometimes until he finally swallowed it, and then he stopped doing it on his own finally.Are you worried she is not eating enough, too? Sorry to be no help, but I wanted to let you know you are not alone....

First off, I laughed out loud to think of her sitting with a bunch of food in her cheeks! My youngest step son did that, too! To be honest, we did not really "get" him to stop, he just kind of outgrew it after a few months. He would be sitting with food in his mouth from breakfast like at 11 am! We tried like watching him eat to make sure he chewed and swallowed, but then he was so stressed that we were watching him, he would not eat. We just finally kind of gave up and let him hang out with the food in his cheeks sometimes until he finally swallowed it, and then he stopped doing it on his own finally.Are you worried she is not eating enough, too? Sorry to be no help, but I wanted to let you know you are not alone....

Yeah, the past couple days she has barely eatten anything. Couple bites here and there. But I truly think it's because I have made her nervous! So, I gotta just back off again and who cares. She's been doing it for awhile now but it's getting worse.

Who knows. I know it's not because she doesn't want the food or like the food because she does it with snacks too. So weird!

Thanks for the reply. It's always good to hear other stories.

Yeah, the past couple days she has barely eatten anything. Couple bites here and there. But I truly think it's because I have made her nervous! So, I gotta just back off again and who cares. She's been doing it for awhile now but it's getting worse.

Who knows. I know it's not because she doesn't want the food or like the food because she does it with snacks too. So weird!

I have heard about this before as well, but I don't have this problem with my LO. So I can't sympathize. But I did just post something a few minutes ago about my Lo watching tv while eating. I can't get him to eat much without the tv on. Your problem is similar in a way. I was just thinking that maybe I need to lean back as well. Like just give him the food and if he doesn't eat it then so be it. All the experts say that they won't starve to death. They'll eat when they are ready. Like maybe she's just not eating much the last few days, but then she'll have days when she scarfs food down. We all just want our LO's to be as healthy as possible.

I'm wondering if I just stop putting the tv on and just let him eat what he wants, then not give him anything to eat for a few hours after. Even if he's hungry. That maybe he'll get the picture.

On the other hand, I was thinking of a few things that may help you.

One, does she like to graze. If you're worried that she's not eating much at meal times. Then maybe just leave healthy snacks lying around the room for her to nibble on whenever she wants throughout the day.

Two, maybe you could reward her. Probably not a great habit to start, but if you're really worried about her nutrition it might be a last resort. Like if you eat all your food you can get a sticker after dinner. Or a small treat. Or even an activity she likes. That would be better of course.

Good luck in whatever you decided to do with your little chipmunk.

Nicole

I have heard about this before as well, but I don't have this problem with my LO. So I can't sympathize. But I did just post something a few minutes ago about my Lo watching tv while eating. I can't get him to eat much without the tv on. Your problem is similar in a way. I was just thinking that maybe I need to lean back as well. Like just give him the food and if he doesn't eat it then so be it. All the experts say that they won't starve to death. They'll eat when they are ready. Like maybe she's just not eating much the last few days, but then she'll have days when she scarfs food down. We all just want our LO's to be as healthy as possible.

I'm wondering if I just stop putting the tv on and just let him eat what he wants, then not give him anything to eat for a few hours after. Even if he's hungry. That maybe he'll get the picture.

On the other hand, I was thinking of a few things that may help you.

One, does she like to graze. If you're worried that she's not eating much at meal times. Then maybe just leave healthy snacks lying around the room for her to nibble on whenever she wants throughout the day.

Two, maybe you could reward her. Probably not a great habit to start, but if you're really worried about her nutrition it might be a last resort. Like if you eat all your food you can get a sticker after dinner. Or a small treat. Or even an activity she likes. That would be better of course.

Thanks for the reply. She did better today without me saying much. She didn't eat a ton but swollowed her food at an exceptible amount of time.

We started the reward thing and I regret it! Now she always wants something for eating a veggie. Or sometimes even a piece of meat. She's goofy. Even when we were potty training I couldn't use the reward system because she just wanted the reward no matter what and it caused melt downs. Now she gets the concept but wants more than I want to give (whole bag of fruit snacks for a bite of green bean). I don't think so!!

She's allowed to get down and come back to her plate. That gets a lot more food in her. I'm not worried about her nutrition as much as I should be. My nephew lives on crap and is plenty healthy!

I'll have to go check out your TV issue. We had that problem for awhile. I had to not have the TV on any time near a meal (makes it hard around dinner since DH is in charge of them and he just always has to have the tv on. As soon as he walks in the house it goes on).

Thanks for the reply. She did better today without me saying much. She didn't eat a ton but swollowed her food at an exceptible amount of time.

We started the reward thing and I regret it! Now she always wants something for eating a veggie. Or sometimes even a piece of meat. She's goofy. Even when we were potty training I couldn't use the reward system because she just wanted the reward no matter what and it caused melt downs. Now she gets the concept but wants more than I want to give (whole bag of fruit snacks for a bite of green bean). I don't think so!!

She's allowed to get down and come back to her plate. That gets a lot more food in her. I'm not worried about her nutrition as much as I should be. My nephew lives on crap and is plenty healthy!

I'll have to go check out your TV issue. We had that problem for awhile. I had to not have the TV on any time near a meal (makes it hard around dinner since DH is in charge of them and he just always has to have the tv on. As soon as he walks in the house it goes on).

ya, sometimes the reward thing just doesn't work for some kids. It's just one of those things that you can try, but if it doesn't work you have to move on. I feel that Matthew might be the same with rewarding. But I have yet to try it yet. Unless tv is the reward...oops...lol. Anyway, good luck. Glad she ate more today. They really are up and down. Today my son decided to skip his morning nap, and now he's sleeping at 12:00 with no lunch..lol. I know he's going to lose the morning nap soon, but I don't think that was the issue this morning. He was so tired. He pooped two times while trying to sleep. So I think it was his tummy. He has IBS. Anyways, they always surprise you, as you know with two of them.

Take care,

Nicole

ya, sometimes the reward thing just doesn't work for some kids. It's just one of those things that you can try, but if it doesn't work you have to move on. I feel that Matthew might be the same with rewarding. But I have yet to try it yet. Unless tv is the reward...oops...lol. Anyway, good luck. Glad she ate more today. They really are up and down. Today my son decided to skip his morning nap, and now he's sleeping at 12:00 with no lunch..lol. I know he's going to lose the morning nap soon, but I don't think that was the issue this morning. He was so tired. He pooped two times while trying to sleep. So I think it was his tummy. He has IBS. Anyways, they always surprise you, as you know with two of them.

I don't really have any suggestions. I want to say that your sharing things that Abrianna does is helpful in seeing what Emma could be doing in the future.

She reminds me of a comic book my mom had called Do They Ever Grow UP?. It's from the people who do For Better or Worse. The boy had these enormous chipmunk cheeks, drooling, arms crossed because he refused to swallow.

I spend time reminding Emma to chew her food good too. Like tonight when she shoved a piece of celery in her mouth when she should have taken bites.

I don't really have any suggestions. I want to say that your sharing things that Abrianna does is helpful in seeing what Emma could be doing in the future.

She reminds me of a comic book my mom had called Do They Ever Grow UP?. It's from the people who do For Better or Worse. The boy had these enormous chipmunk cheeks, drooling, arms crossed because he refused to swallow.

I spend time reminding Emma to chew her food good too. Like tonight when she shoved a piece of celery in her mouth when she should have taken bites.

Well, down the road, if this happens, remember it might be because you are cutting her food too big. I'm not sure of this, it's only a hypothisis. Buddy on dinosaur train would then say that's an idea you can test. (Yep, I'm the one who watches too much tv...channel 9 I think 8:00 for us good show).

Anyway, today went good and we weren't bugging her (I think that was part of it too) and also her meat was cut up smaller. I think that made a difference.

But that was exactlly how it started! Abrianna should be a cartoon! It would be a funny one. I love the age of 2. It's funny because so many post remind me of Abrianna last year. And just makes me smile and think about what the topic did to me a year ago. Like the amount of food intake dropping, the potty training, the fits and talking.

Thanks for the post.

Well, down the road, if this happens, remember it might be because you are cutting her food too big. I'm not sure of this, it's only a hypothisis. Buddy on dinosaur train would then say that's an idea you can test. (Yep, I'm the one who watches too much tv...channel 9 I think 8:00 for us good show).

Anyway, today went good and we weren't bugging her (I think that was part of it too) and also her meat was cut up smaller. I think that made a difference.

But that was exactlly how it started! Abrianna should be a cartoon! It would be a funny one. I love the age of 2. It's funny because so many post remind me of Abrianna last year. And just makes me smile and think about what the topic did to me a year ago. Like the amount of food intake dropping, the potty training, the fits and talking.

It could be that I'm cutting her food too big. I know it's also because she shoves too much in her mouth at once. Our other problem at the dinner table is her putting her feet up on the table. I don't want to lower her high chair. If she won't listen, we push her away from the table and put the tray on.

Love the new siggy!

It could be that I'm cutting her food too big. I know it's also because she shoves too much in her mouth at once. Our other problem at the dinner table is her putting her feet up on the table. I don't want to lower her high chair. If she won't listen, we push her away from the table and put the tray on.

We started cutting her food big because she wouldn't eat stuff it we cut it too small. She wants everything cut and doesn't like taking bites for some reason. So we started cutting it bigger because she'd eat it and it would mean each bites she took was a good amount of food. But, now that seems to be stopping her from eating.

We've been doing pretty good lately. Although, she still loves to put food in her cheeks. Today she had 2 olives in her mouth and that was really funny!!

I forget who mentioned the cartoon (was that you? I think it was....maybe not) anyway, I bet she totally looked like that!

Oh yeah, and thanks for noticing the new pictures!

Too funny!! Abrianna loves putting her feet up too :)

We started cutting her food big because she wouldn't eat stuff it we cut it too small. She wants everything cut and doesn't like taking bites for some reason. So we started cutting it bigger because she'd eat it and it would mean each bites she took was a good amount of food. But, now that seems to be stopping her from eating.

We've been doing pretty good lately. Although, she still loves to put food in her cheeks. Today she had 2 olives in her mouth and that was really funny!!

I forget who mentioned the cartoon (was that you? I think it was....maybe not) anyway, I bet she totally looked like that!

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